PCToday

Challenges are a mere blip on Coryn A. Oswald’s radar. While a plastics & polymer engineering technology student, she survived a life-changing motorcycle accident and returned to Penn College stronger than ever. Today, she’s thriving – thanks to the friendships and support she’s found on the Wildcat volleyball team. “I didn’t know areas of the world even existed like this,” says Oswald, of King of Prussia. “Penn College will teach you how to love your neighbor and how to talk with your teammates. It’s very different from a lot of universities. I think it was built for me.” Follow her remarkable student-athlete journey in this latest Wildcat Spotlight video.

Students in the Grand Pastry Display course placed a capstone on their baking & pastry arts studies Friday with a display that showed off the skills they’ve learned throughout their Penn College career, including the new skills of planning and preparing a pastry buffet. Each student’s contribution included sweet and savory samples for guests, as well as showpieces that demonstrated their sugar and chocolate artistry. The clients for the display were high school students, who visited from throughout Pennsylvania to learn about the college’s baking, pastry and culinary arts majors. Also contributing to the visitors’ experience were final projects from the Cakes & Decorations course. Students in Grand Pastry Display: Hannah L. Fleischer, of Lititz; Emily P. Jones, of Ephrata; McKenna J. Morgan, of Mar Lin; Moira A. Smith, of Aaronsburg; and Caleb J. Stemler, of Jersey Shore.

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Fourteen Pennsylvania College of Technology students recently passed the state Department of Agriculture’s Pennsylvania Pesticide Applicator Certification exam.

“This certification will help these students separate themselves from their competition,” said Carl J. Bower Jr., assistant professor of horticulture. “This is one thing that many employers look for in a new hire, and now these students are able to add this to their resume.”

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Pennsylvania College of Technology wrestlers placed fifth in a 15-team invitational field Saturday, while the college’s basketball teams opened United East play with road losses.

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Pennsylvania College of Technology and Lycoming College are extending a tuition-exchange pilot program that may benefit full-time employees at both city institutions – as well as their dependent children and spouses/partners.

The pilot program has supported employee recruitment and retention at both institutions; the extension is expected to perpetuate those efforts. Program eligibility will be offered to full-time employees – or dependent children or spouses/partners – as determined by each institution. A memorandum of understanding, signed this month by the presidents of both colleges, authorizes a longer-standing tuition-exchange program to continue the piloted effort, which has run since 2019-20. The new agreement takes effect with the 2023-24 academic year.

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Midnight Breakfast – a gastronomical (though unscientific) gauge of student success – was held from 10 p.m.-midnight Thursday in the Keystone Dining Room. The free student meal featured a menu of breakfast sandwiches, bacon, home fries, ice cream, a yogurt bar and beverages. Just over 700 attended, served by members of Dining Services, Athletics, Residence Life, Penn College Police and the Office of Student Engagement. Besides eating, students enjoyed “create a creature” stuffed animals and cuddles with real-life fur babies that eased them toward the starting blocks for that Finals Week dash.

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The Community Arts Center is the recipient of $5,000 from PPL Electric Utilities through the Pennsylvania Education Improvement Tax Credit program, a contribution that will be used to support the theater’s Dec. 3-4 presentation of “The Nutcracker.”

“Educational Improvement Tax Credits allow PPL to enhance and improve educational opportunities for students. Providing these funds to the Community Arts Center is an ideal way for PPL to support not only talented students, but also help the arts to truly thrive in this region,” said Tracie Witter, PPL regional affairs director. ‘”The Nutcracker’ has been presented in our community for the past 50 years, and we are happy to be able to contribute to its longevity.”

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Construction management students at Pennsylvania College of Technology brought home second- and third-place honors from the 33rd annual Associated Schools of Construction Region 1 Student Competition, held Nov. 10-12 in Albany, New York.

Penn College’s Heavy Highway/Civil Estimating team, one of 10 colleges in that division, placed second. The college’s Preconstruction team placed third among the six schools in its category. ASC’s Region 1 encompasses Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and West Virginia.

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Three wood engravings crafted by David M. Moyer, assistant professor of graphic design at Pennsylvania College of Technology, are among artwork exhibited at the 2022 International Contemporary Miniprint of Kazanlak exhibition at the Kazanlak Art Gallery in Bulgaria. The exhibition features more than 500 original works from over 180 artists in 40 countries.

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Two Pennsylvania College of Technology faculty members presented at the 12th Annual Conference of the Midwest World History Association, held recently at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

With the conference theme of “Difficult Histories,” Jennifer R. Wahl and Craig A. Miller co-chaired the workshop “Teaching Difficult Histories to Non-Majors.” Wahl also chaired a panel discussion on “Global Authoritarianism: Challenging Histories of the Military, Authoritarian Rule and Dictatorships.”

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For some travel experiences, the excitement ends when the travelers return home, but for a Pennsylvania College of Technology group, the benefits from a service-learning trip to Alaska are still being unpacked.

The contingent from Penn College’s human services & restorative justice major partnered with YWCA Alaska to host “Through It All: We Rise Together,” a conference on the campus of the University of Alaska Anchorage that brought together human services professionals from across the state to explore new pathways related to domestic violence. Outcomes from the summer event endure in Alaska and in the skill sets of the young Pennsylvania community leaders.

“The biggest impact (for me) of the trip to Alaska was the exposure to another state and its unique culture,” said Colin G. Browne Jr., of Williamsport, who plans to graduate this month. “One of the biggest experiences I am continuing to use is understanding different people, being nonjudgmental and being empathetic toward others. The academic piece of this class looked at the prevalence of domestic violence, which is a serious problem, one that I was not familiar with. After learning from others’ experiences, I continue to use their stories to be supportive and empathetic to things I don’t understand.”

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State Rep. Clint Owlett, R-Tioga/Bradford/Potter, has been appointed to the Pennsylvania College of Technology Board of Directors.

Owlett, who represents the 68th District, was appointed by House Speaker Bryan Cutler to serve on the board for the 2023-24 Legislative Session of the General Assembly.

He will succeed Rep. Jeff Wheeland, who is retiring from his 83rd District seat in the House. Wheeland has served on the board since November 2020.

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William A. “Bill” Kranz, a former faculty member and a Williamsport Area Community College alumnus, died Friday, Nov. 25, at UPMC Williamsport. Kranz earned an associate degree in technology studies in 1985 and was on the college’s construction faculty from August 1981 until November 1999 – first as an instructor of plumbing and heating, and later as an associate professor of HVAC and refrigeration. A memorial service and visitation are scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 10, at Noll’s, 1 E. Central Ave., South Williamsport. A full obituary is available in Wednesday’s Williamsport Sun-Gazette.

Beginning in December, Pennsylvania College of Technology will no longer require the Test of Essential Academic Skills as a criterion for admission into its pre-licensure nursing education majors.

Those majors are the LPN-to-RN associate degree, nursing associate degree and nursing bachelor’s degree.

Beginning with the college’s December selection period, current pre-nursing students and transfer students will be selected based on two criteria: their math/science grade calculation and cumulative graduation GPA. (Previously, current and transfer students who did not take the TEAS exam were not eligible for selective admission.)

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The 2021-22 academic year brought much to celebrate as the Penn College community and its supporters honored the legacy of retired President Davie Jane Gilmour (including closing a $37.2 million fundraising campaign), widened access to meaningful degrees, produced real-world ready grads, and empowered tomorrow makers to broaden their horizons – through competition, travel, internships and more. “I am grateful to the leaders before me and around me,” writes President Michael J. Reed. “Their high expectations and culture of continuous improvement created a solid, progressive foundation that we – alumni, corporate partners, employees, parents, students and friends – continue to strengthen together.” Read more in the 2021-22 Impact Report.